I am realizing that my blogging is much more sporadic than I'd like, so my guest blogs may not be every week. I will only highlight blogs that have an important message, that highlight problems that so many we know are facing, and I will only invite bloggers on my page who I believe in 100%. This has been my family's blog for years, and it isn't lightly that I make this addition of a guest blogger.
I want you to know a few things about my reason for doing the guest blogger, and the specific reason I chose Nikki to do this very first one. A lot of people have guest bloggers. They want to introduce new issues, get a conversation going on topics they may not know much about...but I have a different reason. I want to highlight the things that people keep silent. I want to shine a light on uncomfortable topics. I want to help raise awareness, and yes, for some situations, I want to even help raise funds. Am I taking up an offering and gonna make you feel like you need to donate or you are a horrible person. Ummm...no. Most of us are doing our dead level best to just tread water. But what I want to bring to everyone's attention is that for those of us who have an extra $20 in the bank...think for a minute about the people who would literally be so grateful if you helped them out with $5. How many of us find a $10 or $20 in our pants pockets when we are doing laundry...it's happened to most of us. What if that was literally the difference between eating and not. Or think a little deeper...what if it made the difference of whether or not our children ate dinner...or not. Can we even fathom that? If you have never had to worry about anything like that...then think for just one minute what a blessing you could be to someone who has had...who is worrying about that very thing right now.
So now that I have dragged this out, I would like to introduce to you my friend Nikki. She lives in Louisiana, and I'll tell you guys, I have known her since we were pregnant with our first babies...both boys. We have been friends for more than 14 years, and this woman...every time she is faced with tragedy, she somehow rises above it. When she has faced unimaginable trials and pain, she has somehow found the strength to fight back for her family. And she will tell you in her intro...but she made the most selfless decision that a loving mother could ever make for the sake of her children. She has put everyone in her life first, and the reason I am featuring Nikki first in my guest blogging series, is because it's her turn to be first. She deserves some good. She deserves some positive support, and I hope and pray that she can receive that from this feature. So please welcome, Nikki, with Nikki's Nameless Niche. Please read her introduction and take the time to read her very thought provoking, very touching blog post, and if you feel so led, I have attached a PayPal link below her blog link. Know that every dollar that you could do without right now...that is not an absolute necessity, could change her life in the most amazing of ways. And if anyone deserves it....she does. I don't ask much of my followers, but please click the link to read her blog post and follow her blog. You will be incredibly blessed by it.
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Nikki’s Nameless Niche
I wish I could tell you that I am going to teach you how to
make millions blogging like I did. I
wish I could tell you that I’m going to teach you how to be an even more
amazing parent. I wish I could tell you
that I live in a wonderful neighborhood with all 4 of my children, my amazing
husband, our perfect family pets.
I’ve played that life over in my head so many times, that
when I close my eyes it starts to become real. Unfortunately, none of that is my reality. I’ve never felt that kind of security or
comfort. I‘ve never had all 4 of my kids
together for over 2 months, and a lot of those times I had to be under
supervision. No, I’m not a violent
serial killer. I’m a good person who was degraded and beaten down to the point
of zero self esteem, zero faith, zero hope,
and absolutely zero impulse control.
I longed to be numb. And for 5 years I was.
I hold my head up a little higher now because I have pulled
myself out of 4 “rock bottoms”. I have an amazing husband who supports me in
chasing this dream 99% of the time….the other 1% of the time he is so stressed
out because of the financial situation, he sees no happy ending. My two older children are 14 and 11, and my
relationship with them is finally getting back to where it should be. My two younger children are 7 and 6, and they
live in California with their father. You’re
probably thinking how horrible it is that I have two children so far away. Yes, it
is extremely difficult, and I haven’t
seen them in 3 years because I can’t afford to go there or get them here. I made the decision to let them leave
because the life that they have there is so amazing, and they are so blessed, I could never take that away from them.
I’ve never been able to find my place...to find my
”niche”...to find what I was put on this earth to do, until I started writing
as an outlet. Then I began posting what
I wrote on Facebook because I feel so strongly that someone else might need the
same hope that I needed. I want to help
other mothers who are struggling with addiction or mental illness, to let them
know that they aren’t alone. We all need
to know that we aren’t alone in the world, and that there is someone who
understands.
I am desperate to become a productive member of
society. I managed to graduate from
college as an honor graduate with a 3.9 GPA at the age of 38, I finally
elevated my credit score up to a 700 and was able to purchase my very first vehicle
with no cosigner, and my husband and I were able to purchase a home together to
live happily ever after, right?
A little over a year ago, my husband had to have a double
fusion in his neck and had to take an 8 month leave of absence from work. He returned to work in January of 2018, and I
was laid off the following month. I have
been unsuccessful in finding another job.
Around the same time,
my oldest daughter was hospitalized 3 times in 3 months for “dehydration”.
She became sicker, catching viruses at
least once a month until I had enough and took her to the hospital and demanded
testing. It was then that she was
diagnosed with Addison’s disease, which
is fatal if not properly cared for.
She’s now on 3 medications, 3
times a day for the rest of her life, but she’s finally happy and knows what it
feels like to be healthy.
It gets worse. Also
around this time, my husband’s little
brother was shot and killed by his girlfriend’s ex, who then killed himself. My husband’s brother was a quiet introvert
who had never had a girlfriend, but his wake was packed with students of his
whose lives he had touched. An amazing
man caught up in a very unnecessary situation.
Recently I discovered blogging, and it’s been amazing so
far. I love sharing my thoughts with
others, and I love getting messages from my readers saying how inspired they
are by the raw emotion of my posts.
The problem is, making money blogging is not easy, and so far I haven’t
been able to monetize. My goal is to
make this my career, but I can’t seem to get my head above water. We are currently 3 months behind on our
mortage, 4 months behind on my vehicle.
I imagine they’ll pick it up any day now, and there’s absolutely nothing
I can do. These are material things that
can eventually be replaced, but they are also things that I was proud of.
My husband and I are constantly arguing, with maybe one good
day out of seven. That man is my strength, he is the air I breath, he is my
heart. Giving up on us isn’t an option,
but right now it's so hard. We’ve never
even yelled at each other, now we’re constantly at each other’s throats, full
of blame and resentment.
I’ve opened up a paypal money pool, in the hopes that people
read my blog and see that this could go so far in helping others. For the first time in my life I believe in
something that I’m doing. I am
passionate about it, and I’m not giving up.
So, that’s a little about me...probably more than you wanted
to know! I’m going to put the link to my
PayPal account, and if you are able to, please consider donating. The money will go towards promoting my blog
and writing. I’m attempting to put a
porfolio together of my best posts, and I’m hoping to get some freelance work. I’ve also begun to write a series of ebooks
which will also need to be promoted. I
need a more professional looking theme...I need food. I wish that were a joke.
If you aren’t able to donate, please consider sharing my
story with others. Maybe it’ll save
someone from making the mistakes that I did.
Please subscribe to my blog, and follow me on my journey, because I am
not close to giving up. That will never
be an option.
Peace, love, hope, and blogs
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I would encourage all of you to leave comments and leave words of encouragement for Nikki, but for those of you who donate...even a dollar...as an added gift to your generous heart, please leave a comment letting us know you have donated, and you will be entered into a drawing for a gift :). Just a little way to encourage those of you who are encouraging Nikki on her journey. For the first commenter, click on the "No Comments" link to start the comments.
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